Health Diary Week Six

Ahh I've been slacking and am late to get this posted because I haven't wanted to get on the computer during my little vacation. I'm still here though and I'm still doing this!

Monday (11/16/15)
Movement: Rest day
Fruit: 2 (Banana and Apple)
Veggies: 3 (Black beans and lots of zucchini)
Meditation: No
Notes: I worked 11 hours today so I planned to take a rest day which worked out really well. I am satisfied with my food choices today. It seems to be getting easier to be satisfied at the end of the day and I'm hoping it's not just a phase. I keep reminding myself to take it one satisfied day at a time and the changes will come!

Tuesday
Movement: Walk and hill HIIT
Fruit: 1 (Apple)
Veggies: 0
Meditation: No
Notes: Not terrible but could be better.

Wednesday
Movement: BBG legs
Fruit: 3 (Apple, pomegranate)
Veggies:2 (black beans and zucchini)
Meditation: Yes
Notes: I did not eat great today. Had a crappy couple days of work and feeling down but tomorrow is my last day and then I have six days off so really looking forward to some much needed vaca!

Health Diary Week Five

Monday (11/9/15)
Movement: 60 minutes yoga
Fruit: 1 (Apple)
Veggies: 2 (Asian salad)
Meditation: Yes
Notes: A satisfying day!

Tuesday
Movement: 2.5 mile walk and 60 min pickleball
Fruit: 2 (a big pomegranate)
Veggies: 0
Meditation: Yes
Notes: A good day food-wise though I really need to hit the store and buy some veggies! In other news I hurt my heel playing pickleball :(.

Wednesday
Movement: W1 BBG Legs
Fruit: 1 (Apple)
Veggies: 1 (Black beans)
Meditation: Yes
Notes: Satisfied! We went shopping so I have some veggies!

Love Bit #4 Big Magic!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

Big Magic is the latest book by Elizabeth Gilbert, one of my favorite authors. I was able to borrow the audiobook through the library and I loved it so much I listened to it twice and I am probably going to end up buying a copy of the book so I can highlight and underline and reread over and over. Big Magic is all about nurturing your creativity and letting go of any fears of being vulnerable or failing or trying to be perfect or anything that keeps you from living a creative life. It inspires me to work on this blog and get back into painting and start new projects around the house. Sometimes I feel so intimidated by a task because I have such grand aspirations about the final outcome I let the pressure and fear of failure keep me from even attempting the thing. Big Magic helps me to see that I don't need to be the greatest writer in the world to enjoy blogging and I don't need to have an eye for art to enjoy painting. I create things for me. It's the process that brings joy to my life, not the end result. I think everyone can benefit from reading this book and exploring their creativity. Being creative brings such joy and sense of fulfillment in a way nothing else does, and I've learned it is just plain fun to play around and make something that didn't exist before me!

The Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide

I have decided I'm going to try Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide (BBG) once again. Who is Kayla Itsines?  Kayla is a personal trainer from Australia who creates and sells very popular fitness and nutrition guides on her website.  I first discovered her on Instagram when I noticed many girls posting pictures of their impressive BBG results. I haven't tried Kayla's nutrition guides but own both of her BBGs. Each guide is twelve weeks long and consist of 28 minute strength routines which are performed two to three times a week (for the first guide). You also work in days of stretching, LISS (low intensity steady state cardio) and eventually HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts. 

I started the BBG workout about six months ago and made it to the middle of the second month in the first guide. I loved it at first because the workouts were shorter than my usual workouts yet they were intense and I was always pushed to my max. I could tell I was getting stronger, especially my arms from doing all the push-ups and commandos and my thighs from the killer leg workouts. My cardio was improving too and I was pleasantly surprised with my 5K race result I achieved around that time, especially since I wasn't running much at the time and on race day we arrived late and had to run around a bunch of slower people.

Very decent time for me anyway!

Gentle Weight Loss Plan Update

Progress so far:

Starting weight 141 lbs
Week four: 139.7 lbs

So I have to admit it's nice to see my weight go down a little but everyone's weight fluctuates by a few pounds and who knows if this is a legitimate weight loss or not. There is little to no change in the photographs and even if there is, maybe I just ate less salt today (doubtful though because it was a bit of a binge day...). Anyway the only way to find out if I'm really making progress is to keep on keeping on! 

The Plan, Phase Two

For the next month I am going to keep tracking everything like usual except I will write my satisfaction level in the 'notes' section and instead of 'food' I will document my number of vegetable and fruit servings eaten during the day. I need to be a little more intentional about putting good things into my body. I am not going to be tracking my green tea anymore because although I want to continue to drink it, it doesn't really affect me mentally or physically if I don't. I am also going to be stepping my workouts up a notch and give the Kayla Itsines' Bikini Body Guide another try. More on that soon! 

*Edited and blurred photo because there is more to life and health than how we look! (January, 2016)

Health Diary Week Four

Day 22 (11/2/15)
Movement: Arms and abs
Food: Satisfied!
G tea: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Notes: Way to start this week off right, me! My goal is to have at least five satisfied days this week!


Day 23
Movement: Walk and hill HIIT
Food: Satisfied!
G tea: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Notes: Happy with my food choices and happy I got in a little workout when I was planning on having a day off.


Day 24
Movement: Long walk in the park
Food: Satisfied!
G tea: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Notes: A good day although I think I ate some bad mushrooms. :(

Love Bit #3 My Raspberries!

This was my first full year owning raspberries plants. Brian and I moved into our house last July and the previous owner had let the plants get so overgrown we didn't get many raspberries. Last winter I thinned out the plants and did some pruning and though I haven't been diligent with the weeding and pruning since, my raspberry harvest has been a lot bigger this year. The summer harvest was pretty thin but this autumn I've been able to gather a couple handfuls of raspberries every other day which I have been putting in the freezer until I decide what I want to do with them. I tried to make raspberry muffins with the summer berries but they didn't turn out that great. Maybe raspberry banana smoothies are in my future! Ooh or raspberry banana pancakes!

Halloween Weekend 2015

This year Brian and I took advantage of the fact that Halloween fell on a Saturday. I haven't done anything special for Halloween in probably ten years though it was one of my favorite holidays when I was young because hello, FREE CANDY. I don't love going to bars anymore and I've always hated masks, so going out to costume parties/bars as an adult on Halloween has never appealed to me. This year Brian and I decided to do something different and have our out-of-town friends Mike and Sara over for the night to make the holiday a little more fun.

In preparation I hung some orange streamers and attempted to make caramel apples. The streamers were festive but the apples were a fail because I cooked the caramel too long and after it cooled on the apples it became so hard the apples were practically inedible. I made it work though. 

Ugliest caramel apples turn into abstract art and then are carefully de-caramelized and devoured.

Health Diary Week Three

Here are my notes for week three:

Day 15 (10-26-15)
Movement: Rest day
Food: Not satisfied
G tea: Yes
Meditation: No
Notes: Forgot to meditate when I got home from work. It was an unusual work day which always throws my routine for a loop.

Day 16
Movement: Legs
Food: Ehhh not so much
G tea: Yes
Meditation: ..well I tried but Zuzu was being a pistol and then Brian came home with Panera. So no.
Notes: Was proud of myself for working out before work today since I was scheduled to start work two hours later than usual. So at least that part of my day went well!

Day 17
Movement: 20 min cardio and 20 min arms
Food: Satisfied
G tea: Yes
Meditation: Yes
Notes: Today I had a great day at work and a great day at home! Why can't every day be this way?